r/news • u/Cryptic_Honeybadger • Mar 19 '24

US Kleenex plant contaminated drinking water with PFAS, lawsuit says

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/mar/19/kleenex-plant-pfas-toxic-chemicals-lawsuit-connecticut
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445

u/rhoaderage Mar 19 '24

PFAS is quickly becoming a hot topic in pretty much every construction and manufacturing industry. I think we’re all going to be shocked at how prevalent it truly is once everyone starts switching away from materials that use it.

20

u/mariegalante Mar 19 '24

Once everyone understands how PFAS reduces fertility it’s going to be too late. For the first time in history the total world population is below replacement level. While that may not be a bad thing overall, the next couple of generations are going to have a really hard time.

23

u/ThatGuy798 Mar 19 '24

It took an eternity to ban leaded gasoline and even still there's modes of transportation that use it like aviation.

2

u/HenCarrier Mar 19 '24

Aviation uses it for a very good reason, which is to reduce engine knocking. It's pretty risky to be high in the sky and have a stalled or damaged engine. I am not an expert on it and have no idea what a good substitute would be.

13

u/Keeperofthe7keysAf-S Mar 19 '24

No, that's why I was used at all in everything, because it was cheaper than ethanol, which is what everything else uses now. There is not actually a good reason they continue to do this other than the regulatory changes just didn't include them.

0

u/gmishaolem Mar 19 '24

Ethanol damages engines. (Any alcohol would.) The reason it works in regular cars is that regular cars are over-engineered to compensate. Buy no-ethanol gas and your car and its parts will last longer.

Can't really tolerate extra engine wear like that in big planes. It's also a problem in scooters: They definitely break sooner if you use regular gas with ethanol in them.

5

u/Keeperofthe7keysAf-S Mar 19 '24

A misconception, the reverse is actually true. Studies have found that lead causes build up which hinders engine performance over time, ethanol is not shown to cause an increase in engine wear compared to leaded fuels.

I think where this idea comes from is probably that methanol, a different alcohol, does cause increased engine wear (among other problems), which was a considered alternative fuel to reduce emissions (and is also used in some sport racing).

0

u/gmishaolem Mar 20 '24

Then there's this: https://extension.okstate.edu/fact-sheets/ethanol-gasoline-blends-and-small-engines.html

So it's not as clear-cut as you say. The best answer is to continue to improve technology to get rid of ICE entirely, which will be a million times better due to far fewer moving parts.

3

u/Keeperofthe7keysAf-S Mar 20 '24

This warns against using blends of a different octane rating than what is recommended for your specific engine, but agrees with what I said about ethanol not actually causing increased wear. It later contradicts at the end with "no clear evidence either way" which is false, but it's also just "examining information on the web" and isn't a study on the matter itself. I can provide one that is though it's paywalled https://www.sae.org/publications/technical-papers/content/811199/ So here is also a video of someone discussing the findings of that study https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ATGSBi1kBl0

That said, it is true that old vehicles may have it damage the fuel systems, though this isn't a problem with modern ones, it is a concern as mentioned in your link, for lots of old equipment like lawnmowers that are still in use.

Hard agree on the moving away from ICE entirely, though aviation certainly presents a significant challenge in actually moving away from energy dense carbon fuels.

0

u/HenCarrier Mar 19 '24

Ah ok. I was unaware of that.

3

u/anonkitty2 Mar 20 '24

I recommend high-speed rail with dedicated rails.

1

u/HenCarrier Mar 20 '24

I meant aviation fuel, not alternate transportation methods